Richard Grainger and Chris Parkinson

Richard Grainger is one of the most prolific and diverse artists on the Folk Scene today, working tirelessly to promote the music and folk arts in general to an ever widening audience. Richard is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, writer and entertainer. An innovator who likes to perform to a wide audience.

Born in Middlesbrough, an industrial town on the North East coast of England, he was brought up in a musical family, and sang with them from a very young age. He now resides in a small moorland village in North Yorkshire.

At school Richard showed little interest in any of the subjects except, of course, music and English. He sang in the school choir, listened to recordings of folk and blues musicians and took up the guitar inspired, like so many of his generation by the early recordings of Bob Dylan and Martin Carthy.

Richard toured the north east folk clubs and was invited to join the Teesside Fettlers, a very popular folk group, in the 1980s. He'd followed in the footsteps of Vin Garbutt and his mentor, Ron Angel and his songs achieved wider recognition in the process.

In 1984 his first solo album was released, receiving great reviews. Before long, Richard was touring throughout the UK at folk clubs and major festivals and was regularly heard 'live' and on record on BBC's Folk on 2.

During the 1990s Richard performed with well known folk musician, Dick Miles and then accordion genius, Chris Parkinson. Both partnerships were recorded and received critical acclaim. Both partnerships have been renewed during 2008.

Richard released his 11th album 'War Horse', in January 2008. The CD received much critical acclaim and was described by folkradio.co.uk as: "a classic folk album that will stand the test of time".

Chris Parkinson has played music since the age of five, starting with the harmonica, and moving on to piano, guitar, concertina, tin whistle, melodeon, piano accordion and keyboards, and even a little time playing the fiddle. He plays traditional folk music of UK, Europe and beyond, and is also no mean hand at blues, rock & roll, and even a bit of jazz. February 2006 saw a somewhat historic milestone, it was just 50 years since Chris first played harmonica on stage.

The discography is quite impressive too, including 7 House Band albums, 2 solo albums, plus sessions on approx another 54 albums, 21 compilations, and DVDs by The Working Party, Ralph McTell and an appearance on a Guitar Maestros DVD with Steve Tilston.

Chris is also a founder member of the much travelled and highly acclaimed "The House Band". He is in great demand both for live performance and studio session work, and has worked with countless people from the folk scene and beyond - Martin Carthy & Norma Waterson, Ralph McTell, Mike Harding, Steve Tilston, Martin Simpson, Steve Phillips. Steve is a very highly regarded blues singer and guitarist, and also a member of the world- renowned Notting Hillbillies.

Event listed by ChristchurchFolkClub

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